Monkey See Monkey Do

Postcards

I had seen a website where this person was sending out artwork in the form of postcards to his/her friends. I thought it would be great to send stuff out and see how long it takes to get to places around India and the world. ( if it gets there!) Would you like to get one?  Please message me your address on FB. I'll let you know when I post it. You let me know when you receive it.

Ill pick them at random.  The ones below have been spoken for.  But that's what they would look like.

Piaggio Ape': Popular goods carrier.

Urban passenger taxi.  3 Wheeler. Ugly and polluting.

"Its been a long time..."

Bremen Hauptbahnoff.

"It's been a long time, now I'm coming back home.

I've been away now, oh, how I've been alone.

Wait till I come back to your side,

we'll forget the tears we cried."

Wait. Rubber Soul.  The Beatles.

Laziness and preoccupation with assorted stuff had resulted in the long five month gap.  I had been drawing however.  So have enough material to post!

"Where the mind is without fear..." R. Tagore.

The Alamo. San Antonio Tx. USA.

The drawing has nothing to do with the text below. I think I am flouting all rules of good blogging. I just cant abide by meaningful titles and related content.  I am a maverick. Populist anarchy rules.*

The Republic day of India is a grand spectacle. The largest democracy in the world celebrates the anniversary of its formation on the 26^th of January in the capital New Delhi.   India became a republic in 1950, three years after independence from Great Britain.

There is a parade along the beautiful Rajpath, lined with some of the most beautiful Government office buildings in the world.  The British architect, Edwin Lutyens had designed “New Delhi” in 1911 as the capital of British Imperial India.

The parade includes columns of the armed forces, floats with new weapon technologies, all followed by a colorful display of the diversity of people in India.  Civilian and military heroes are celebrated.   The range extends from a schoolgirl who rescued friends to soldiers dying in shootouts with Pakistani insurgents in Kashmir.

While everyone seems to enjoy this spectacle in the beginning of the year, some folks do have objections.  I for one, think that the colonial style horses and finery could be done without.   Same for the missiles and tanks.  Way too Socialist Eastern Bloc kind of muscle flexing.   The floats celebrating the culture of the Subcontinent are great. And the TV commentary could be a bit less flowery.   Much less flowery. “Let us now turn our adoring eyes upwards to the blue skies …”

* The President of India has asked citizenry not to indulge in "Populist Anarchy" this election year.

I have blocked my calendar!

Temple on Baner hill. Baner road, Pune.

I have been drawing but not posting.  Really. There was a lot of travel in the last four months and interspersed with holidays and lethargy I have not posted for a while.

Recently I have been focusing on watercolors and coloring in general.  I found myself describing my blog as drawings with watercolor coloring.  The medium of watercolors for painting is quite challenging.    One cannot correct mistakes and the rule of “Know what you have to do “just cannot be broken because once you have laid the paint down it’s almost impossible to change it.  So while it’s probably the cheapest and most accessible medium for beginners to painting it’s also the most unforgiving.

I plan on painting the Sahyadri mountain ranges, where I go trekking, as my skill level builds up.  They are incredibly beautiful and it would be great to capture that and reflect it in a simple but elegant watercolor.

You gets what you pays for, my dear.

Woman walking in Pashan, Pune.

Street side vendor

Push starting a three wheeled pickup. Pashan, Pune.

Woman climbing Sinhagad.  Sinhagad, Pune. Man on curb. Pune.

I finally got around  to purchasing a real sable brush.  They are expensive. Made from the hair of the Siberian Kolinsky Sable, ( a type of a weasel), this brush cost me 27 Euros( about 37 USD).  Size 8. A mid sized brush.  Good watercolor brushes are characterized by three things.  Firstly, their "Snap", ie the ability of the loaded brush to regain its pointed shape after applying paint to paper.  So if you dabbed paint on a spot , it should immediately go back to its pointed shape ready to apply paint precisely at another place.
Second, its "Belly".  The ability to hold water or paint so you can paint continuously without recharging it.    The fatter the belly while still holding a point is desirable.  Thirdly, "Point",the ability of the bristles to come to a needle point when you load up the brush with paint. You should be able to paint a hairline and with just some added pressure increase the width to about an inch ( on a Number 8 brush) and  on releasing the pressure spring back to the hairline.   A varied thickness of a brush stroke is very useful while painting.
My new brush does  this all exceptionally well.  I hope I don't screw  it up by being sloppy in its care.

All drawings above from memory.

Lucky Pig?

Pune Airport lounge.

Refuel stop. Bucharestu, Romania.

I recently remembered a person from a workshop on campus at Georgia Tech.  He was very good at fabricating metal components useful in our projects.  Big guy.  He used to have a pencil-thick scar across the width of his neck. He told me he got it in a knife fight in a bar.  I always half believed him.  He had a hobby. He used to collect statues and things shaped like hogs and pigs.  It was quite a fantastic collection.  Piggy banks. Mugs shaped like a hog.  Metal statues. Wild Georgia hogs.  Bristly, large with huge canines.   

The reason I remembered him was I recently bought a little “Lucky three legged Pig”.  Made from terracotta ( “Mud”).  Cute as hell.  From Chile. "Chanchito".

As large and old as India is, I have never come across anything that depicts pigs as lucky or cute and lovable.  One avatar of Vishnu is the “Varaha”. A wild boar.  Ferocious and terrible.   In general pigs are viewed as unclean animals, much like the middle east views them.  Both Judaism and Islam prohibit followers from eating pork.   I wonder what the Chinese think of them.  They are an important part of their cuisine.  Food for thought aye? 

Homer Simpson on pigs:

Lisa: “I’m going to become a vegetarian”

Homer: “Does that mean you’re not going to eat any pork?”

L:“Yes”

H: “Bacon?”

L: “Yes Dad”

H: “ Ham?”

L: “Dad all those meats come from the same animal”

H: “Right Lisa, some wonderful, magical animal!”

Half and half

Ganesh display off Sus road. Pashan, Pune.

This is a very large display that has been set up during the ongoing Ganesh Festival. It is a stage with a ten foot high Ganesh in front of a half football field sized ground. The orange stairs lead devotees onto the stage where they pay homage.

I had parked to draw it and this small machine shop made of corrugated tin was an interesting foredrop. The guy was building a cabinet with L angled mild steel beams.